IST Invitational Recap

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a fantastic way to end the season for so many on our team! Our athletes swam fantastic and really supported their teammates in our first big meet with ribbons in more than two years! Lots of new motivational times were achieved, and many of our 11&Overs got to strut their stuff in Finals! We also got to swim relays for the first time in a very long time, adding a whole new level of excitement to the meet! As this was an end-of-season meet, Top 3 finishes are included with the new US Motivational Times at the end of this recap.

Black Sport Recap

Another strong showing over the weekend from our Black Group Athletes! The athletes have been working hard on getting their butterfly skills down at practice—along with a variety of other things—but they’ve been working hard on that specifically. The good news was we saw some outstanding progress from the athletes—even if they were disqualified on their butterfly—and they looked much better, which was exciting!

Outside of the pool, the kids did a very good job of making life easy on the coaches by being present, listening, and getting to their races. There were a couple misses, but only a couple out of 170+ swims from the group!

Warm-up went well. The group listened and followed the instructions well. We still have several boys who need to learn how to tie their suits by themselves! Moms and Dads, please make sure you are teaching your sons how to tie their suits. The coaches cannot do this for them. At some point during a meet, they will have to use the bathroom, and that means untying and retying their suits. Untied suits can and do fall down when diving in, so getting those tied is an important skill to have!

We had a number of athletes legally complete the 50 Fly for the first time:

• Aria Beezer
• Ethan Ghiondea
• Joy Huang
• Elaina Jiang
• Lingyi Li
• Andrew Ouyang
• Mudit Singh
• Keira Spitze
• Alex Wang

The other big challenging event this past weekend was the athletes who completed the 100 IM for the first time. Going into the meet, we only had 5 athletes in the group with a legal 100 IM, and there are now 18 with the following athletes getting this swim down:

• Berit Dunn
• Ethan Ghiondea
• Zoey Harmetz
• Joy Huang
• Anika Lichtenburg
• Andrew Ouyang
• Benji Ovendale
• Mudit Singh
• Clara Stevenson
• Alex Wang
• Natalie Whitbeck
• Alyssa Yang
• Kenshin Yokoyama

We also saw a bunch of other first time legal swims:

• Aria Beezer—100 Free
• Norah Braun—100 Free
• Claire Chen—100 Breast, 100 Free
• Lucas Deng—100 Back, 100 Free
• Mira Erdim—100 Free
• Ethan Ghiondea—100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast
• Thomas Godbout—100 Back, 100 Free
• Zoey Harmetz—50 Breast
• Joy Huang—100 Free
• Bella Jiang—100 Free
• Elaina Jiang—100 Free
• Elise Kabakci—100 Free
• Lingyi Li—100 Free
• Anika Lichtenberg—50 Breast
• Rinat Maksyutov—100 Free, 50 Breast
• Andrew Ouyang—100 Free
• Benji Ovendale—100 Free
• Ethan Pan—100 Free
• Mudit Singh—50 Breast
• Keira Spitze—100 free
• Siena Stahlkopf—100 Free
• Leo Steijn—100 Free
• Alex Wang—100 Free
• Alyssa Yang—100 Free
• Kenshin Yokoyama—100 free
• Ally Yuan—100 Breast
• Andrew Zhu—100 Free

A few swims we were excited about because they looked better in the water, even if they weren’t 100% legal yet with the stroke:

• Adi Beibit—50 Fly
• Lucas Deng—50 and 100 Back
• Ethan Ghiondea—50 Back
• Olivia Horng—50 Fly
• Joy Huang—50 Back
• Elise Kabakci—50 Fly
• Rinat Maksyutov—50 Fly
• Benji Ovendale—50 Breast
• Siena Stahlkopf—50 Fly
• Natalie Whitbeck—50 Free

Age Group Select

The seven AGS swimmers who represented Wave over the weekend not only had some incredible swims but demonstrated what it means to be a mature swimmer and supportive teammate. I was impressed as each swimmer identified what they could improve on in their races while also celebrating what they did extremely well. I was also proud of how the swimmers stayed accountable regarding warm-up and cool-down, with teammates encouraging each other to make sure not to forget to do so. Last, the AGS swimmers had opportunities to race one another in the same heat and sometimes even right next to each other. There was some friendly banter going on between swimmers before races but what stood out to me was—despite the competitiveness—everyone celebrated each other’s successes. Way to go Age Group Select!

• Molly Mayfield sprinted her way to time drops in all three of the events she swam on Sunday, earning her top-three finishes in the 100 Back (1^st overall!!), 200 Free (2^nd), and 50 Free (3^rd). Her enthusiasm and positive attitude coming into Finals set her up for incredible success!
• Sasha Arlouski’s focus on executing race strategy led to a three-second time drop in the 100 Back! He most notably placed 2^nd overall in the 200 IM and 3^rd in the 200 Free!
• Olivia Henaire was strong throughout the entire weekend as she dropped time in 5 out of 6 of her events. Her biggest time drops were in the 100 Free and 100 IM where she dropped 8 seconds in each race, resulting in two new BB times!
• Kumail Mukadam dropped a whopping 14 seconds in the 200 Free where he not only broke the 3-minute barrier but placed 1^st!
• Prisha Parikh had her best meet of the entire 2021-22 season. She blasted out a 20-second time drop in the 200 Free and also crushed the 3-minute barrier. Her strong swims the entire weekend earned her not only one but two BB times (her first-ever!) in the 200 Free and 50 Back to go along with an incredible anchor swim in the Medley Relay.
• Rachael Rose dominated the meet this weekend, earning best times in all six events she swam. She dropped a cool 23 seconds in the 100 Breast and placed 2^nd overall. This amazing swim resulted in her first BB time ever!
• Max Stevenson claims the title of most time dropped overall throughout the entire meet! Max dropped more than 28 seconds in the 200 IM, 10 seconds in the 100 Breast, 9 seconds in both the 100 Free and 100 IM, 13 seconds in the 200 Free, and almost 2 seconds in the 50 Free (also a new BB time)!!

Senior Prep

Although there were only two Senior Prep swimmers at the meet, both Ananiah and Henry showed up ready to swim and dropped some incredible races with best times! I am proud of how they were able to execute race strategy while pointing out things to continue improving on in finals and practice. Great swimming Ananiah and Henry!

• Ananiah Gashaw looked strong the entire meet, swimming right on her best times and posting a 2.49-second time drop in the 200 IM. She is very close to breaking the 3:00! I’m excited to see where her hard work will continue to take her.
• Henry Geitz showed UP to the meet, dropping time in 8/8 events. His biggest time drop was in the 500 Free where he demolished his previous time by more than 2 minutes and broke the 6-minute barrier! My favorite race of his was the 50 Free as he set a goal to increase tempo heading into finals, which resulted in a swim that clocked in at 26.73 (over 1-second time drop)!

Purple Sport

Congratulations to all our Purple Group Swimmers at the IST meet for finishing out our Short Course season strong!! We had some great swims throughout the long weekend. You’ve all worked very hard, and your are showing that hard work pays off!! Some highlights from over the weekend are:

• Mutian Gao went at 35.20 in his 50 Fly in prelims later coming back with a 33.68 in finals
• Kavya Sudhakar swam a 1:23.60 on her 100 Free after working on head position and flip turns came back even faster in Finals with a 1:20.60.
• Ekansh Verma dropped 10 seconds on his 200 IM after improving his pace work for a 200 race.
• Irina Burac dropped about half a second off in her 50 Free during prelims and came back to drop another 0.3 seconds off her prelim time earning a 30.4.
• Tanvi Bathe dropped 16 seconds in her 200 Breast.
• Rajayna Das swam a 40.37 in her 50 Free after coming back from a break, she dropped 4 seconds off of her old time.
• Oliver Lee dropped 9 seconds on his 100 IM getting around a 1:29 for his new time.
• Maddie Cheng earned two B times in her first meet since turning 13.
• Kirill Kadich finaled in all six events and won the 100 Back.

High School Sport

You guys did amazing things in that water this weekend! You all had amazing swims. And we had relays for the first time in a long time! You all performed so well! It shows the hard work and dedication that you have been putting in! Some of you swam events for the first time or for the first time in years! I am so proud of your hard work! Every one of you dropped endless amounts of time but the swimmer of the meet for our group has to go to Kaler Duryee. He made either a B or a BB time in all but one event!

• Arnav Agnihotri: Dropped 7.72 seconds in his 100 Back! -2.09 in 50 Breast. -0.78 in 100 Free. -0.96 in 50 Fly.
• Lucas Blat-Phillips: -4.20 in 100 Back! -11.53 in 200 IM!!
• Zander Brumfield: -2.70 in 100 Fly. -4.77 in 100 IM! -1.02 in 200 IM. -6.99 in 50 Back! -9.78 in 500 Free!
• Kaler Duryee: -.95 in 50 Free. -5.37 in his 200 Free! -0.85 in 50 Fly. -1.26 in 100 Free. -30.47 in 500 Free! -3.03 in 50 Back.
• Evan Galuska: -1.62 in 100 IM. -1.63 for 100 Back! Dropped -14.70 in 200 Back!
• Yuvika Gupta: -.45 in 50 Free. -0.06 in 100 Back. Swam 200 Back for the first time.
• Rashmi Joshi: -1.21 in 100 IM! Swam 400 IM for the first time @ 6:27.34. -2.03 in 200 Back. -1.99 in 100 Free. -2.03 in 200 Back.
• Aditi Kandiah: Dropped -4.96 seconds in 100 Fly! -5.35 in 100 IM! -0.20 in 50 Fly. -13.66 in 200 Fly!
• Maya O’Neill: -1.25 in 50 Free. -0.34 in 50 Breast. -3.25 in 50 Fly. -0.32 in 100 Free. -1.63 100 Back.
• Neha Phatak: -3.23 in 50 Fly. Swam 200 Fly for the first time @ 3:09.71.
• Artem Semenov: -0.21 in 50 Free. Swam 50 Breast for the first time @ :45.71
• Timur Shchelgachev: Dropped -2.28 seconds in 200 Breast. Swam 200 Free for the first time @ 2:20.08! Swam 200 Back for the first time @ 2:25.24. -0.22 in 100 Breast.
• Paolo Villanueva: -3.26 in 100 IM! -0.30 in 50 Breast. -8.53 in his 200 Back!! -0.83 in 50 Back.

White Sport

Congrats to all those who swam this weekend! Even with two meets in quick succession, you might think that it would be hard to improve, but you’d be wrong.

48 White-groupers swam 18 thousand yards legally! We dropped 780 seconds off our personal bests, including more than 100 seconds off times from just a couple weeks ago! Arnold Tanto, alone, dropped 45 seconds off his February meet times! We also scored 54 first legal times, 25 new B/BB times and graduated four swimmers to the next motivational level. Well done!

MOTIVATIONAL GRADS:

BB Firsts:

• Alice Kudyakov charged her 100 Breast, slicing 5.6 seconds off and landing 4 seconds under the BB time for 100 Breast! She got her head down and lunged the glide! This, two days before she turned 11. What a birthday present!
• Landon Yuan also slam dunked his 100 Breast, powering the grip, but still riding the glides to shave another 2.4 seconds off (from two weeks ago) for his first BB time!

B firsts:

• Karina Maksyutov scored her first four B times (50 Free, 50 Back, 100 Back, and 100 Breast) after several meets of taunting close calls.
• Quinn Hagen landed her first B time in her 50 Breast sneaking in 0.08 below the cutoff! She now has a 50 Breast time that is only 1 second slower than her 50 Free time! Great birthday present to herself!

POWER FINISHER:

• Emma Henry drove her 200 Free home! Her last 50 Free split was 41.8, which is barely 1 second over her personal best for a 50 Free! She was also one of the only swimmers lucky enough to swim both the 200 IM and the 200 Free, landing both legally!

LOSS LEADERS: no easy feat where many events swam, were swam recently!

• Losing 40+ seconds: Landon Yuan (-40s) and Anurag Bathe (-46s) including 25 seconds off his 100 Breast from just two weeks ago!
• Losing 50+: Kayson Taylor (-50s)
• Losing 60+: Quinn Hagen (-66s), with three of her events first legal times!
• Losingest Winner: Arnold Tanto, for the second meet in a row, leads the pack with 69 seconds lost, including 45 seconds lopped off times that were barely two weeks old! His times are in freefall!

SQUEAKY CLEANEST: 6+ swims, 6+ times, no DQs, no ‘no shows’, no dramas―they have it together―or they’re very lucky! Emma Henry, Joshua Hunter, Alice Khudyakov, Priyadarshi Lahiri, Maria Kokhan, Yihan Li, Elizabeth Luo, Jonah Lynn, Karina Maksyutov, Kayson Taylor, Grace Zhang.

ON FIRE: Quinn Hagen, Irene Qu, Andy Yang and Serena Zhang cleaned it up, and even dropped time across the board! Every. Single. Event. Possible. Even off the times that were barely two weeks old!

Top 3 Finishes

• Alex Arlouski: 2^nd in 200 IM, 3^rd in 200 Free
• Adi Beibit: 3^rd in 50 Fly
• Zander Brumfield: 1^st in 200 & 500 Free and 50 Back, 2^nd in 100 Fly, 3^rd in 100 & 200 IM
• Morgan Clark: 3^rd in 50 Breast
• Evan Galuska: 2^nd in 200 Back
• Henry Geitz: 1^st in 200 Back, 2^nd in 100 Back and 500 Free, 3^rd in 50 Free
• Abby Gray: 3^rd in 100 Fly
• Olivia Henaire: 1^st in 50 Free, 3^rd in 100 Free and 50 Back
• Kirill Kadich: 1^st in 100 Back
• Kunaal Kadam: 1^st in 200 Back, 2^nd in 100 Free, 3^rd in 200 Free
• Aditi Kandiah: 3^rd in 200 Fly
• Alice Khudyakov: 3^rd in 100 Breast and 50 Free
• Maria Kokhan: 3^rd in 100 Back
• Olivia Liu: 1^st in 100 Fly
• Molly Mayfield: 1^st in 100 Back, 2^nd in 200 Free, 3^rd in 50 Free
• Lainey Meyer: 2^nd in 100 Fly
• Kumail Mukadam: 1^st in 200 Free
• Molly Page: 3^rd in 200 Back
• Prisha Parikh: 1^st in 200 Free, 2^nd in 50 Free
• Neha Phatak: 2^nd in 200 Fly
• Rachael Rose: 2^nd in 100 Breast
• Jasmine Shi: 3^rd in 50 Breast
• Max Stevenson: 2^nd in 200 Free, 3^rd in 100 Free and 200 IM
• Raina Tuladhar: 2^nd in 100 Back
• George Ursulenko: 3^rd in 100 Fly
• Ekansh Verma: 2^nd in 100 Back and 200 IM, 3^rd in 100 Breast and 100 Free
• Audra Whitbeck: 3^rd in 200 Free
• Andy Yang: 2^nd in 100 Fly, 3^rd in 100 Breast
• Landon Yuan: 2^nd in 100 Breast

New US Motivational Times

BB

• Zander Brumfield: 100 Fly
• Kaler Duryee: 50 Free
• Henry Geitz: 50, 100 & 200 Free, 200 Back
• Olivia Henaire: 50 Back, 100 IM
• Prisha Parikh: 200 Free, 50 Back
• Rachael Rose: 100 Breast
• Max Stevenson: 50 Free
• Landon Yuan: 100 Breast

B

• Alex Arlouski: 200 IM
• Adi Beibit: 50 Fly, 50 Free
• Arya Bhatt: 50 Free
• Maddie Cheng: 100 & 200 Breast
• Kaler Duryee: 100, 200 & 500 Free
• Henry Geitz: 500 Free
• Abby Gray: 50 & 100 Fly
• Quinn Hagen: 50 Breast
• Olivia Henaire: 100 Free
• Rashmi Joshi: 100 Free
• Aditi Kandiah: 100 Fly
• Yihan Li: 100 Fly
• Anika Lichtenberg: 50 Back
• Olivia Liu: 200 IM
• Karina Maksyutov: 50 & 100 Back, 100 Breast, 50 Free
• Lainey Meyer: 100 Fly
• Kumail Mukadam: 100 IM, 200 Free
• Prisha Parikh: 50 Fly
• Rachael Rose: 100 IM, 50 Back, 50 Free
• Max Stevenson: 100 Breast, 100 & 200 Free, 100 & 200 IM
• Shailja Tyagi: 50 Free
• George Ursulenko: 100 Breast, 50 Back
• Alison Wang: 100 Breast, 200 Free, 50 Fly
• Audra Whitbeck: 100 IM, 200 Free
• Andy Yang: 50 Back
• Landon Yuan: 50 Back
• Grace Zhang: 100 Back, 100 Fly, 100 IM

WAVE ON 3!!